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Surprise, surprise. The National Safety Council just released a report saying that all cell phone use while driving – even hands-free – is potentially dangerous and "risky behavior." The study includes some pretty scary figures, including this one: At any time, 11 percent of drivers on the road are on their phones at the same time. Even worse, the NSC estimates that one out of every four automobile accidents occur because the at-fault driver was on the phone. The NSC combed over and referenced 30 scientific studies and reports for its findings.

While you can technically operate a cell phone and a vehicle at the same time, it seems that our brains aren't hardwired to process that much information simultaneously. According to the study, the result is that while we may see everything on the road, our noggins are only making use of around 50 percent of the available information while we're on the phone. Yikes. Want to know more? Click here to visit the NSC's official page.

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I may be one of the few people who doesn't have a cell phone. I've had them and found that I rarely ever used it. Months would go by without my even charging it. I have a home and work phone where I can be reached. I actually enjoy the luxury of NOT being "on call" all the time, especially while I'm driving. I've also been hit twice by people talking on their cell and not watching where they are going.

I heard a statistic that said there are 6.8 billion people in the world and there are 5 billion cell phones.

Anonymous

4 Years Ago

I mount my iPhone to my dash and use the sat nav, iPod, Bluetooth w/ speaker, and XM through it. My setup works well and I am very careful about prioritizing driving above all else. If some communist outlaws this- I'm going to be screwed.

Anonymous

4 Years Ago

Yeah, what else is dangerous while driving that could limit the percentage of road-going information intake to our brains? Just to name a few:

â¢ Using a sat nav to find your way to a blind-date rendezvous â¢ Head-banging and screaming loudly to your favorite death metal soonâ¢ Eating some tasty, tasty, tasty McD'sâ¢ Shaving or Applying Makeupâ¢ Having a political argument with a passenger or twoâ¢ Reading a romanic novel on your Kindle (please DON'T)â¢ Daydreamingâ¢ Nervously giving yourself a pep-talk before conducting a sales-pitch to a clientâ¢ Smoking your favorite pack of Camels

If the NSC or any other nanny-state agency is eager to provide these statistics in hopes of getting cell phones BANNED altogether, they might as well mandate that cars be outfitted with a single seat, outlaw non-essential items in cargo, eliminate automobile multimedia production and require a large sticker to be posted on each dashboard: "Keep Calm and Carry On."

My point? Within reason, don't tell me what I can and cannot do in my own damn car. Cell phone usage has already been curtailed by entire states mandating hands-free systems, but studies like this may even stem laws that prohibit having a telephone in the car, period. Get enough of these laws passed and enforced, we'll have leased vehicles that resemble a form of public transportation that you park in your garage every night.

Anonymous

Anonymous

4 Years Ago

I lived in Japan for 4 years and I liked their way of dealing with cell phones & driving. Everyone, even 90 yr old grannies, have cell phones there. And considering how few safety features they have on their cars, they quickly outlawed talking on cell phones while driving. So what people do now is they just pull over to the side of the road, park, and turn on their emergency lights before answering. Most of their highways now have areas to pull over just to talk on the cell phone.

This is essentially what I do now that I'm back in the states, if it's safe. Obviously stopping on the highway is not possible here, but smaller streets that aren't busy and have enough shoulder space I'll pull over. If I'm not able to pull over, I don't answer! I've managed to avoid any tickets or accidents since I got my driver's license 8 yrs ago and I'm not gonna get my first one cause I was talking on my cell while driving. ~_~;

Anonymous

Inattentive driving causes crashes. If you need a study to know that you should not be driving. Texting requires much more concentration than people want to admit which is why it is so much more dangerous. Sometimes talking on the phone is equivalent to listening to the radio, checking your blindspots, etc.

Anonymous

4 Years Ago

I would say you would get the same results with talking to someone that is actually in the car, and probably even worse talking to someone in the back seat. When is there going to be a study with people messing with the radio or GPS? Until those studies are done, to me there is no credibility in this one.

Anonymous

4 Years Ago

Didn't Autoblog post a study earlier stating just the opposite? Something along the lines of, people get into just as many accidents with a cell phone as without, and areas where talking on the cell phone while driving was banned showed no significant decrease in traffic accidents? I think the article was about the dangers of texting while driving and how it was worse because you take your eyes off the road.